Personal Views on Faith in Christ

The Context of Justification

2020-12-20T09:50:00.001+08:00

God has shown me that justification is raised by Paul in his letters to the Galatians and Romans within the context of how non-Jews could become God's people, how they can be included in His covenant with Abraham. For the Jews, the sign that you're God's covenanted people is circumcision as when God made the covenant with Abraham in the book of Genesis. The sign of the covenant which every offspring of Abraham must show is circumcision. That's the sign that you're God's chosen people and blessed by Him.

How can the Gentiles claim to be in the same covenant with God if they don't display the sign of circumcision? That's why Paul had to argue in Romans and Galatians, that non-Jews were still considered God's people because their circumcision, the sign of the covenant, was in their hearts (Romans 2:28-29) rather than on their bodies and the outcome of their spiritual circumcision was they obey the righteous requirements of the Law of Moses by following the commandments of Jesus Christ, which means by faith rather than by works of the Law, that is to love one another as Christ did.

This brings to the point that when Paul raises the contrast of justification by faith rather than works, it is always within the context of being God's covenanted people by following and obeying Christ's commands rather than the works of the Law. Justification by faith is never discussed outside of this context. In both Galatians and Romans, it's always a contrast between being considered as God's covenanted people either by works of the Law, especially circumcision, or by faith in Christ, as in obeying Jesus and becoming His disciples (Galatians 5:6). It is never about faith versus general actions, works, or deeds per se. It is always within the context of being included as God's people through His Abrahamic covenant (hence Romans 4 is inserted after chapter 2 & 3). Justification by faith is never used, and should never be used, as an argument that you don't need to do anything after you've believed in Christ. Concerning the nature of faith in Christ, whether in the Gospels and in Paul's letters, faith is never disassociated from actions. Paul sums it up well in Galatians 5:6.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love. Galatians 5:6 NRSV-CI

God is Just

2020-11-15T10:47:00.001+08:00

And this is Revelation's statement of the answer the Lamb has conquered, has defeated the powers of evil And now (Revelation 5:9-10) the Lamb has ransomed people from every nation in order to make them a royal priesthood, serving God and reigning on the earth.

This theme, so frequent in the New Testament and so widely ignored in Christian theology, is part of the solution to the problem. It isn't that the cross has won the victory, so there's nothing more to be done. Rather, the cross has won the victory as a result of which there are now redeemed human beings getting ready to act as God's wise agents, his stewards, constantly worshiping their Creator and constantly, as a result, being equipped to reflect his image into his creation, to bring his wise and healing order to the world, putting the world to rights under his just and gentle rule. A truly biblical ecclesiology should focus not so much on the fact that the church is the community of the saved but that the church is the community of those who, being redeemed through the cross, are now to be a kingdom and priests to serve God and to reign on the earth. Our fear of triumphalism on the one hand, and on the other hand our flattening out of our final destiny into talk merely of "going to heaven," have combined to rob us of this central biblical theme. But until we put it back where it belongs we won't see how the New Testament ultimately offers a solution to the problem of evil.

God, then, will put the world to rights and will do so in a manner consistent with the design and plan of creation from the beginning. And now it should become apparent that God's action in Jesus -- to redeem a people for himself and to set them in authority over the world -- leaves God, so to speak, in the clear. (Evil and the Justice of God, N.T. Wright,139-140)

___

From this, I come to understand that God is just in that He does not succumb to the accusation from Satan that creation can no longer be redeemed in the way God designed and promised it would be. God denied evil's insistent that creation must be destroyed before it can be renewed and the accusation that God is wrong in how He designed creation and how He promised to redeem it after its fall in Genesis 1-3.

God is justified because He redeemed creation in the way He designed it and in the way He promised in His covenant with Abraham. He redeemed through another Son of Man or the Last Adam, Jesus, who is also the Seed of Abraham. (Romans 4-5)

God does not succumb to evil's accusation that creation is beyond all redemption in the way God designed it and it must be destroyed. And God must admit He's wrong in His creation and redemption plan. God defeated Satan's accusation that God is wrong and He's not God and good. Because if He destroys His creation, He is a destroyer rather than the Creator. If He destroys rather than restores, God has become bad rather than good. God would be denying Himself. God is no longer God and Satan would have succeeded as the accuser and the usurper.

Hallelujah that through Jesus, the Last Adam, God defeated evil and redeemed creation in the way He designed it, through a Son of Man, and as He promised to Abraham, through his Seed. All glory be to Jesus. Amen.

Christ's Death For Us

2020-11-09T22:33:00.001+08:00

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Hebrews 12:3‭-‬4 NRSV-CI

Jesus represented Israel and us to resist sin, something we could not do because we have colluded with sin to become its slave thinking we will preserve our lives by doing so, but only to find that by doing so, we're actually imprisoned in death.

And because Jesus resisted sin, sin in its fullest of force killed Him who resisted it. (The devil thought that by doing so, it had defeated God, but it was shocked to find that God made it a fool instead.) And because we're enslaved by sin and the devil, we became coconspirators of Jesus' murder. Our sin or our collusion with it, our failure to deny and resist sin, brought about the death of Christ. Christ indeed died because of our sins and for our sins, because He resisted in our stead. On our behalf Jesus resisted and died, for our sins and because of it. Jesus did for us what we could not do so that we may be free from sin which overpowers and controls us, and Jesus did it even when it meant giving away His life. He resisted evil and sin on our behalf, for our sake because we are hopelessly powerless to do so, in order that we might find freedom from it and live.

Jesus represented what we could not do and died for it. Because of that, when we repent and pledge our faithful allegiance to Christ through baptism, joining Christ in His death, we too resisted sin and died to it as Christ did in order that we might defeat it like Christ and inherit the hope of life in His resurrection.

When we partake of the bread, we are acknowledging and enacting this truth that we have pledge to die with Christ and resist sin in order to receive His forgiveness to live the life of Christ in the newness of faith. That's why if we partake of the bread, but live in sin, we are hypocrites doing the opposite of what we pledge and confess in the communion, which is sacramental reenactment of our union and covenant with Christ to resist sin to the point of death until He returns.

Suffering & Resurrection - Christ Has Been There Before

2020-11-08T11:18:00.001+08:00

When I struggle with the question of suffering, the meaningless life in the face of death and pain, I'm reminded that Jesus also went through the same pain, and more.

I'm given a vivid understanding that Jesus also undergone the same struggle and question while suffering on the cross.

Why must the Lord suffer? Why must good people suffer? Why must we suffer and die? Is there meaning to it all? Are we born to die?

Two important points in these questions. Suffering and purpose of life.

In the eyes of most people witnessing Jesus' death, it was the end of everything. He suffered without any good coming from it. He was defeated and achieved nothing. Everything was meaningless when Jesus was killed. There was no hindsight and hope of His Resurrection in the eyes of the people who witnessed Jesus' crucifixion.

His death was the end. Another meaningless and painful death.

I understood this as great comfort. Jesus struggled through this when He cried out asking why God had forsaken Him. He felt the loneliness, the emptiness and the great pain. Much more than most of us can ever imagine.

This is the same question we ask when people died tragically in accidents, wars and disease.

But the hope is in Christ's Resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus, our Lord, gives meaning to life and death. Meaning for the suffering we endure and the good that we do. That those who died did not die in vain. The good life they had lived will not be purposeless. Everything will be counted and appraised when we are resurrected before God's throne of judgement. For good and for bad.

Of course, it's difficult to find comfort in an event that everyone cannot see. That's why we are doubtful and shy to hold this hope as the answer to the big difficult questions of suffering and death, and the meaning of life in the face of the two.

Now, the Lord made me understand why He said, "blessed are those who believe without even seeing His Resurrection." His disciples were blessed to witness the Lord's Resurrection and vindication. They were comforted and changed. They were given meaning and new life. They were no longer afraid to face threats of death for Jesus and in following Him. They saw and were blessed.

But, we're blessed even more when we believe in the hope of resurrection in Christ even though we've not seen it with our own eyes.

This is the comfort for my own difficult situation in facing the uncertainty of my heart condition.

Lord, help me to hope in You and live in You, looking forward to the resurrection that gives meaning to life and comfort for suffering and death. Amen.

My Understanding of Christ's Death

2020-11-07T12:51:00.001+08:00

Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. Genesis 50:20 NRSV-CI

He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. Mark 12:6‭-‬8 NRSV-CI

In trying to understand Jesus' crucifixion and death, I think these verses provide a better understanding on what's happening both historically and theologically.

Reasons for Killing Jesus

Just like Joseph was nearly killed by his brothers because they hated him for his claim of ruling over them, Jesus was killed because He proclaimed that God was now returning to rule over Israel through His Anointed King. And Jesus claimed through His actions and teachings that He was this Messiah. The existing Roman and Jewish authorities, politically and spiritually, did not like it at all (John 12:19) because it meant they had to relinquish their power on the people which gave them so much wealth, recognition and control. Some hated it just like Joseph's brothers did with his dreams of being their lord (Genesis 37:8).

The ruling powers in Jerusalem decided that Jesus must be killed in order for them to remain as lords of the people. Like the wicked tenants, they thought murdering the beloved son of the owner would allow them to rob his inheritance. The wicked tenants wanted to be owners themselves. They did not want the owner to rule over them for the vineyard. The same with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem. They did not want Jesus to be their king and rule over them. They did not want to believe that Jesus was God's Anointed because it meant they had to relinquish their way of controlling the people and gaining from it. (Matthew 23:5‭-‬7) They rejected God's Messiah and His kingdom. Like Israel rejected God as king in the days of the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 8:7-8), so the Jewish spiritual authorities in Jesus' days did the same.

How God Intended It for Good

How did the murderous intentions of the ruling class in Jerusalem become God's salvation plan? Did not the parable of the wicked tenants end with the owner coming to destroy them? I think the story of Joseph rescuing his family in Egypt, and thus, in a vital way, rescuing the promise of God to Abraham, is helpful to answer these questions.

Yes, most of Joseph's brother did intend to kill him and if it was not for the timely intervention of Reuben (Genesis 37:21) and Judah (Genesis 37:26-27), he would have been. God's promise to Abraham would have been unfulfilled together with his dark and terrifying dream of God rescuing his descendants. (Genesis 15:13-14).

However, what was intended as a traitorous murder, Joseph, after he had recovered from the cruel bitter ordeal by testing his brothers multiple times when they came to Egypt, saw God's providence and salvation plan at work. And he accepted it willingly, rescuing his family instead of executing punishment on his brothers. (Genesis 45:1-8)

Jesus did the same. He knew his people would reject him and the ruling authorities of the Temple were planning to arrest him and have him executed. (Mark 10:32-34) But Jesus accepted it knowingly and willingly because He knew this was the Father's plan.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” John 10:17‭-‬18 NRSV-CI

Nevertheless, knowing it ahead of time did not mean it was any easier for Jesus when the time came. (Luke 22:42‭-‬44) Sometimes, I wish teachers of the word would highlight this a bit more instead of trumping up the emotions of brothers and sisters, urging them to ignore their negative feelings and pressing them to make preposterous and non-biblical claims about the promises of God. By doing so, they might as well just throw out a large chunk of Psalms and the entire book of Lamentations. Aren't we supposed to weep with those who weep?

That's a bit of a side track. Back to the topic at hand. More than just being willing to give up His life, Jesus did so out of love (John 15:13‭-‬15) and with forgiveness (Luke 23:34) even for those who killed him if only they would turn around and come to their senses. Because of this great example of Christ' love and forgiveness, Stephen was able to do the same when he was stoned to death as a martyr for Christ.

Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died. Acts 7:60 NRSV-CI

And upon this revelation, Paul wrote one of my most beloved definition of God's love through Christ's sacrificial death in his letter to the church in Rome.

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NRSV-CI

While we were still his enemies, just like Joseph's brothers were to him, or as the wicked tenants to the owner, more than willing to kill Jesus because we reject His authority and do not want Him to govern our lives, Jesus willingly gave His life on the cross for us.

Because Jesus was willing to suffer the punishment due to us, the wicked tenants who killed the owner's beloved son in order to rob the vineyard and profit from it, and because He extended His forgiveness even after the suffering the worst possible fate, His death had become God's means of salvation for all.

What was intended as evil by forces of darkness through the collusion of human agents (John 13:2), God overcame evil itself (John 16:33, Hebrews 2:14‭-‬15) and turned it for good. That's Christ's death

Summary

In summary, Christ's death could be categorized into these major themes.

Historically and politically, Jesus was the enemy of the spiritual authorities in Jerusalem and they wanted him dead to preserve their political power, from being taken away by the Romans, and to maintain spiritual control over the people for their own gains.
Jesus allowed Himself to be taken and crucified on the cross, and when He extended His forgiveness to His enemies who did this heinous crime, sins were forgiven then just as it is now, for anyone who would pledge their faithful allegiance to God's newly Anointed King (Messiah/Christ). Not just the King of the Jews, but the true, unlike Caesar, Lord of the world.
Jesus' death overcame the spiritual dark forces led by the Accuser, who controlled worldly affairs by exercising influence over human agents (Ephesians 2:2). By doing so, Jesus freed and rescued us from this power of darkness and made us citizens under His rule and protection. (Colossians 1:13)
And by doing so, Christ's death also freed us from the power of sin through our union with Him in baptism. And by dying together with Christ in baptism, we are empowered by the new life of the Spirit to resist sin's enslavement and to live as God's rigtheous people on earth (Romans 6:1-14), establishing His kingdom in our lives here as in heaven.

Rejection Today

Many are still vehemently rejecting Jesus and His message of God's reign over us today, e.g. New Atheists etc. And sometimes they have strong and valid reasons for doing so because of what they see happening in the church, and what we did in the past. And true enough, Christians are not exempted from the justice of God, for when we continue to sin by disobeying His commandments to love God and one another, unrepentant and turn away His authority over the conduct of our lives, we are, according to the author of Hebrews, killing Jesus all over again. (Hebrews 6:6) Our fate will be the same as anyone who rejects Jesus until the end even though we may claim to be Christians. (Matthew 7:21‭-‬23)

Suffering and Hope 1 Peter 3

2020-11-01T09:38:00.001+08:00

but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;

1 Peter 3:15 NRSV-CI

This perhaps is the philosophical worldview of Christian life. It's a hope rather than seeing immediate realization while we're alive. This hope gives meaning to life in the face of death. Death makes everything meaningless. Why do we need to do good when we're suffering and when everyone else is doing wrong and prospering from it? Like the psalmist who wrote Psalm 73, it's only when we contemplate the hope of God's restoration and judgement in His Presence that we're able to understand and accept the conditions and sufferings in our lives. Whether we suffer at the hands of evil people or from natural causes or disasters.

Lord Jesus Christ, help me not to fear and be anxious. Rather continue to hope in You and do good always in Your Name. Amen.

Reading Psalm 51 with 1 & 2 Samuel

2020-10-18T11:21:00.001+08:00

Psalm 51

It is easier to identify the historical context for Psalm 51 because it is clearly stated that David composed this after his sin against Uriah and Bathsheba. I think almost everyone is familiar with the story of David's adultery with Bathsheba and subsequently his sinister scheme to ensure Uriah was killed in the war with the Ammonites (2 Samuel 11) after he had unsuccessfully tried to cover up Bathsheba's pregnancy. I think the intrigue found in the books attributed to Samuel's authorship will appeal to fans of the Game of Thrones TV series.

Ground For Appeal

When Israelites sinned against the LORD, the Law of Moses commanded offerings for the forgiveness of sins. There were different offerings for different kinds of sin as written in Leviticus. And there would be no ransom for a murderer. (Num. 35:30-31) Provided there were witnesses against the murderer. Adulterers would be killed too. (Deut. 22:22) Because David committed both adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah though he did not kill with his own hands, he had no grounds to appeal for forgiveness according to the Law of Moses. David in accordance to the Law must be put to death. Even David himself expected the capital punishment until Nathan told him the LORD had spared his life. (2 Sam. 12:13) So on what ground David appealed to the LORD when there was none provided in the Law? The answer was on the promise the LORD made to David earlier.

'from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ' 2 Samuel 7:11-12

'I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.' 2 Samuel 7:14-15

'For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God , you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant; now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you; for you, O Lord God , have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”' 2 Samuel 7:27-29

Based on this wonderful promise the LORD made to David when He established his kingdom and his dynasty and knowing God would keep His word, David was able to summon enough courage to pray for forgiveness. David appealed to God's steadfast love which He declared He would not take away even when David's offspring sinned agains Him. Though he would be punished, but the LORD promised never to remove His steadfast love from him. And this was the ground for David's appeal.

'Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.' Psalms 51:1-2

David knew no amount of offerings would atone for his sins and take away the noose hanging around his head. A truthfully repentant heart that would turn away from wrongs was more delightful to the LORD than any number of offerings. (Ps. 51:16-17) David would have learned about how Saul disobeyed God and offered the sacrifice which Samuel warned him not, resulting in the LORD taking away his kingdom from him and giving it to David. (1 Sam. 13)

Only Against God?

David knew immediately he had sinned against Uriah, Bathsheba and the LORD when Nathan told the parable to confront and rebuke him. (2 Sam. 12:13) But, why did David seemingly say he had sinned against the LORD alone? (Ps. 51:4) Although most English translations reflect this, but I think the more plausible interpretation could be seen in the NET translation.

'Against you – you above all – I have sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. So you are just when you confront me; you are right when you condemn me.' Psalms 51:4

It is not that David did not sin against Uriah and Bathsheba, but more than anyone else, his sin was against the LORD. If God did not give His commandments to Moses, David's actions would probably not be punishable by death and considered acceptable for a king by the nations and cultures around Israel. It was ultimately against God's standard which David had trangressed.

Remembering A Dead Child?

We know almost nothing about David's birth, but it seemed he thought he was conceived in sin in his mother's womb. (Ps. 51:5) Is this a mere hyperbole? Or was David thinking about his first child with Bathsheba who died in his place? (2 Sam. 12:14) Was David reflecting on the fact that this child was conceived while he committed adultery with Bathsheba? When he was deeply sorrowful as if his every bone was being crushed, was David thinking of the death of this innocent child who died because of him? (Ps. 51:8)

No One Would Know

When David planned in his heart to have Uriah killed at the hands of the Ammonites, he thought it was wise and clever, a secret code only he and Joab shared. (2 Sam. 11) But God knows our hearts and most inner thoughts. Nothing can escape him. What David thought was a clever plan was neither wise nor truthful. David acknowledged this and prayed for change.

'You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.' Psalms 51:6

A Right Spirit

These verses (Ps. 51:10-12) beginning with the cry "create in me a clean heart" have become my favourite daily prayer and easily remembered and sung with one of my favourite Keith Green songs by the same title. Yes, I'm that old to have listened and worshipped with this firebrand Christian brother who tragically died early in a plane crash.

David knew his heart was not right and sinful after what he did to Uriah and Bathsheba. Like Jeremiah (Jer. 17:9), David had found out that our hearts could be extremely deceitful. His cry was to ask the LORD for a right spirit and to sustain him with it. What does it mean to have a right spirit? Here, NET translation does a better job in providing better understanding. David was asking God for a resolute and ever willing spirit to obey Him and not to stray away from His commandments again. That's the right spirit David was asking for from the LORD. He also pleaded to the LORD not to take away His Spirit from him. I have no doubt that Saul's predicament (1 Sam. 16:14) when God removed His Spirit away from him causing him to be fearful and unable to function normally would have been at the back of David's mind. After all, he was the first hand recipient and eyewitness of Saul's tormented manic condition after the LORD took away His Spirit from him.

Guilty Of Bloodshed & Murder

If you read about David's life in the books of Samuel, you will notice he refrained from killing Saul, Saul's family, Abner and others. Yes, he killed hundreds if not thousands of Philistines, and Amalekites, the enemies of Israel, in war and conflict, but there was always a tendency in David to avoid bloodshed. He even warned his followers from harming Saul when they had the chance multiple times. So, David was right to claim he would "teach sinners God's way" (Ps. 51:13) because he really did. Even in the case of Nabal (1 Sam. 25), David realized he nearly committed this error in anger if it was not for the timely intervention by Abigail. Conspiring with Joab to get Uriah killed would be one of the rare case against David for committing bloodshed against an innocent man. And as mentioned above, there was no ransom for this transgression in the Law of Moses. There was no ground for redemption and the penalty was death. So, when David cried, "deliver me from bloodshed" (Ps. 51:14) and appealed for salvation, he literally meant that he would be delivered from the death penalty which he deserved. To be restored with the joy of salvation to sing aloud God's deliverance (Ps. 51:12,14) literally meant to be delivered from the penalty of death for the killing of an innocent man.

Do Good To Zion

David realized God blessed his rule as king because He was faithful to establish Israel as He had made a covenant with them. (2 Sam. 5:12, 2 Sam. 7:23-24) But because of his sin, strive and conflict would constantly trouble David's family and his kingdom. (2 Sam. 12:11) He knew this and ended his psalm with a prayer that God would remember His covenant with His people and do good to them (Ps. 51:18) even though he, as their king, had failed and sinned. He prayed that his own wrongs would not be the cause of troubles for God's people. It's likely for this reason that David did not fight Absalom immediately, and fled Jerusalem, giving up his kingdom to his usurper son in order to avoid deaths and sufferings in a civil war that arose because of his sin. David also knew that when the people see the goodness and faithfulness of God even though their own allegiance was fleeting, they would naturally return to the LORD to obey Him wholeheartedly, and to bring their sacrifices to Him. (Ps. 51:19)

I hope this reading of Psalm 51 together with 1 & 2 Samuel will be beneficial to you.

Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not

2020-10-04T10:05:00.001+08:00

One final step remained. It came rather late, but under Emperor Decius (249-251) Caesar worship was made universal - and compulsory for race and nation within the empire with the single exception of the Jews. On a certain day in the year every Roman citizen had to come to the Temple Caesar and had to burn a pinch of incense there, and say: "Caesar is Lord." When he had done that, he was given a certificate to guarantee that he had done so. After a man had burned his pinch of incense and had acknowledged Caesar as Lord, he could go away and worship any god he liked so long as the worship did not affect public decency and order. Thus, we see that Caesar worship was primarily a test of political loyalty, it was a test of whether or not a man was a good citizen. If a man refused to carry out the ceremony of acknowledging Caesar, he was automatically branded as a traitor and a revolutionary. Exaltation of the emperor, then created a problem for the Christians. They had not failed to pray for the emperor in their meetings, but they would not pray to him in private or in public. Scholars have studied Roman coins and have found a striking similarity between the praises Christians offered in worship of Christ and the adulation Roman citizens directed to the reigning emperor. (Shelley, 1995)

Reading the passage above, it's not difficult to link it with what the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome.

because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 NRSV-CI

Emperor worship was a norm in the first century even though it was only made universal in the third century. Christians in Rome would have been familiar with the allegiance test of burning incense to the emperor and proclaiming Caesar as Lord. As the passage above mentioned, failure to comply had dire consequences. Being branded as a traitor or revolutionary was no joke. We know what the Romans did to thousands of Jewish revolutionaries. They crucified them on crosses by the hundreds.

Yet, Paul, when talking about his fellow Israelites' failure to follow Jesus as their Messiah, described how one could call on the Lord Jesus Christ and serve Him in a manner which was very similar to the emperor allegiance test. Minus the burning of incense, it was a confession quite like swearing allegiance to the emperor with the added crucial requirement that one must believe what he confessed in his heart. In other words, you must mean what you say.

Jumping forward to the present, we see how often the church in general uses Paul's believe in your heart and confess with your mouth description as a method for non-believers to be accepted as Christians in the community of believers. Once you said the so-called Sinner's Prayer, then you're good. Save and secured eternally. Given the certificate to be called a Christian.

However, this was different in Paul's time. Confessing Jesus as Lord meant the Christians in Rome were not participating in the ceremony to swear their allegiance to Caesar. It was a dangerous thing to do. Jews were exempted from this by the emperor's decree, but non-Jewish Christians were not. There was a price to pay for this confession and it was not simply a matter of saying a prayer and be done with it. The Christians in the first century could not bring themselves into a compromise with the imperial allegiance ceremony and then went about happily worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ after it.

For Paul, it was not a mere formal incense burning ceremony followed by a meaningless verbal profession. Confessing Jesus as Lord proceeded from a heartfelt belief and meant everything inwardly and outwardly. It meant that if one truly confessed Jesus as Lord, then Caesar was not even if his own life was at stake. It meant that he could not live the life he once did. Rather, he had to live in a manner worthy of his confession and calling.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1‭-‬2 NRSV-CI

Likewise, it's more than just saying a simple prayer because the pastor, the priest or anyone asked you to in order to show you're a Christian. The prayer or confession is not a mere formality in which after that we can happily go about doing our own things in the way we use to like nothing has ever happened where everything is back to normal and life goes on. We have an allegiance certificate now and we can do whatever we want without worrying about the consequences. That's not how it works according to the apostle.

Reading Psalm 23 with Samuel

2020-10-02T13:12:00.009+08:00

It seems quite obvious that reading Psalms together with 1 & 2 Samuel will yield interesting insights since the latter provides a lot of historical background and events which inextricably influence the composition of Psalms.

Reading Psalm 23 which is again traditionally attributed to David, you can easily discern two different imageries. That of a sheep being cared for and protected by a shepherd (Ps. 23:1-4) and a favoured person of a powerful host (Ps. 23:5). If there is a third, then it would be of a person blessed with the opportunity to always return to the house of the LORD and worship Him in His Presence (Ps. 23:6).

I read through 1 & 2 Samuel to search for events that would have left deep lasting impressions for the poet to compose Psalm 23 with these imageries. Naturally, I look for details in the life of David himself.

David As A Sheep (v.1-4)

David as a shepherd boy is well known to all especially for anyone who has attended Sunday School classes for the young. The story of a brave shepherd boy slaying the giant Goliath is a popular parable and often quoted whenever an underdog challenges seemingly insurmountable odds or opponents.

We are introduced to David as a shepherd boy for the first time in 1 Sam. 16:11 when God commanded Samuel to anoint him as the king of Israel to replace Saul. Then, we have the opportunity to learn, in David's own words, of his life as a shepherd protecting his father's flock.

But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 1 Sam. 17:34-35

In this psalm, instead of being a shepherd, David, however, pictured himself as a sheep he was so used to protecting in the fields. The imagery portrayed was David as the sheep and the LORD as the shepherd. And just like how he would care and put his life in danger to protect his flock from harmful wild predators, David imagined the LORD would do the same for him, if not more so, as the Shepherd of His people. Jesus' parable of the Good Shepherd (Matt.18:12-14) surely echoed this truth. And because David really cared for his sheep (1 Sam. 17:15), he can deeply sense and understand God's love for him in the events of his life.

So many times on the way to becoming the king of Israel, David walked through the valleys of death, being hunted down by Saul, hiding among the Philistines, and fighting against the Amalekites. The LORD delivered him and kept His promise to make David the king to replace Saul. Indeed, the staff and the rod of God protected David, his family and the people with him.

David Feasting Before His Enemies (v. 5a)

v. 5 gives the imagery of a tense situation where David was honoured by the LORD to feast at His table in the midst of his enemies. It was common for the Israelites to eat and worship God in the vicinity of the tent or tabernable of the LORD like Hannah did (1 Sam. 1:9). Hannah's situation was somewhat similar where she had to endure the provocation of her rival, Peninnah, each time they ate at Shiloh. She counted her as her enemy. (1 Sam. 2:1)

But I think another situation in David's life serves as a better source for this imagery. Saul intended to murder David during the feast of the new moon (1 Sam. 20). David was to be seated at Saul's table surrounded by his people who would be ready to kill him, but he managed to escape with Jonathan's help. Indeed, the LORD delivered David from this deadly situation. In Psalm 23, instead of being almost killed, David imagined himself being given the highest honour at God's table and protected by Him to the chagrin of his enemies.

David As the Anointed (v. 5b)

David was anointed on three different occasions. By Samuel (1 Sam. 16:13) while he was still a shepherd boy, who was initially disregarded even by his own father. As the king of Judah (2 Sam. 2:4) at Hebron and again at Hebron (2 Sam. 5:3) as the king of Israel. These events surely influenced David to imagine himself being anointed by the LORD in His house.

However, I think the most memorable would be the anointing by Samuel. When he was overlooked even by his own father, God knew his heart and chose him. Surely at that moment, the brothers were angry and jealous of him. Perhaps even to the point of becoming his enemies.

David Being Blessed Forever (v. 6)

The whole of Psalm 23 is in fact reflected in what the LORD spoke to David through Nathan after he planned to build Him a more permanent dwelling (2 Sam. 7).

Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 2 Sam 7:8-9

And when the LORD told David that He would establish his house and throne forever (2 Sam. 7:13), David responded by declaring in this psalm that he would dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Because David's lineage would have the opportunity to serve the LORD in His house for many years. Sadly, although Solomon and those after him failed in keeping their promise to serve the LORD, Jesus, as the Offspring of David did. And the throne of our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed established forever in His death and resurrection.

I believe this psalm was composed after David had established himself and the LORD had blessed David through Nathan (2 Sam. 7) and before the events of David murdering Uriah and Absalom's rebellion as a judgement from God.

Reading Psalm 19 with 1 Samuel and Romans

2020-09-27T11:26:00.001+08:00

When we read Psalm 19, even without any commentaries, we will likely notice that the psalm can be divided to two or three different themes or topics.

Usually, most will agree that verses 1-6 describe how creation reflects the glory of God while the rest focus on the theme of Torah or God's commandments being perfect and good for us.

For me, I like to propose three sections to this Psalm.

1. Creation declares God's glory (v.1-6)

2. Torah or the commandments of God being perfect & good (v. 7-11)

3. Focus on psalmist's plea and reliance on God to keep him right (v. 12-14)

Regardless whether we see two or three sections in this psalm, I like to ponder why this is so.

Why did the psalmist compose these themes into his psalm?

Since by tradition, Psalm 19 is attributed to David, the most relevant thing to do is to read about his life in 1 and 2 Samuel in order to understand the historical and cultural context of his time.

In addition, anyone who is familiar with Paul's letter to the Romans will highlight the similarity of the theme found in the first six verses of the psalm with the apostle's argument in Romans 1:18-23.

And more likely, you will quickly point out that the apostle quoted Psalm 19:4 in Romans 10:18 when he argued that his fellow countrymen had no excuse for not hearing the gospel concerning the Messiah, Jesus. In Paul's mind, Jesus' ministry and the events in Jerusalem are akin to the psalmist's contention that the heavens sing the glory of God even though they don't articulate it in human language.

Paul extended this by arguing in Romans 1 that we actually understand this heavenly song and it's message, but we choose to reject it and deny God's glory in order to free ourselves from worshipping Him.

This mindset of the Greeks in the first century is similar to the Israelites in Samuel's time as seen 1 Samuel 7 and 12. In fact, from Joshua to Judges to Samuel and right down to the events leading to their exile in Babylon, the Israelites and their kings had not stay faithful to the LORD. (Something to reflect on in the history of the church as God's people.)

Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you. Direct your heart to the Lord , and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” So Israel put away the Baals and the Astartes, and they served the Lord only. 1 Samuel 7:3‭-‬4 NRSV-CI

And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord , but serve the Lord with all your heart; and do not turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or save, for they are useless. 1 Samuel 12:20‭-‬21 NRSV-CI

This brings me back to my question. Why did the psalmist write in such manner in Psalms 19 i.e. the three different themes that divide the psalm?

I like to propose that the psalmist was not simply extolling God's glory via his observations of the sky and the sun. Rather, I suggest that the psalmist was presenting the argument, like Paul did in Romans 1, that his fellow countrymen cannot ignore God's glory as seen in nature and continue to worship idols instead of serving the LORD alone.

Like how Paul charged his fellow Jews for not listening to the call of Jesus in Romans 10:18, the psalmist was saying the same about the Israelites. The sky and the sun spoke of God's glory, and the Israelites had no excuse, but to understand their message even though it's not spoken in human language. This reminds me of Jesus' charge against the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. Matthew 16:1‭-‬3 NRSV-CI

After this challenge for his listeners to hear what the heavens were declaring, the psalmist turned to the commandments of God (v. 7-11) as a continuation of his charge and persuasion for his people to turn away from idols and serve the LORD by observing His commandments and fear Him because this would bring them blessings and restoration.

This is just like Samuel's warning against the Israelites when the prophet and judge delivered his final address in 1 Samuel 12.

If you will fear the Lord and serve him and heed his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord , and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well;

1 Samuel 12:14 NRSV-CI

Hence the psalmist's emphasis on God's ordinances and fearing Him. Both Samuel and the psalmist had the same way of thinking. The same mindset or worldview when it comes to God and worshipping Him. Fear God and worship Him.

the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

Psalms 19:9 NRSV-CI

This brings us to the last section (v. 12-14). The theme changed from God's glory in nature and the requirement to fear and obey Him to the psalmist's plea to the LORD to keep him away from committing sins against Him. Even though the psalmist feared and served the LORD, he knew that only God could keep him away from wrongdoings. He acknowledged he needed God's help to turn away from sins and stay blameless before Him. The psalmist knew he could not do this on his own without God's help even though he feared and kept God's commandments. Perhaps, the psalmist was echoing the fact that the heart was extremely deceitful and who could understand it except the LORD.

The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.

Jeremiah 17:9‭-‬10 NRSV-CI

But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.

Psalms 19:12 NRSV-CI

It's easy for the psalmist and all of us to turn away from the LORD even though we know what's right and what should be done. Sin's enticing hold on our hearts is still there as long as we live until the Lord's return to bless us with new and incorruptible bodies. We might not worship wooden idols, but we have plentiful of other idols in the form of money, sex and power to name a few. Until then, all of us will suffer the same plight and need to cry to God for His grace in resisting what we know is wrong and do what's right. God knows and gave us His Spirit that we may be empowered spiritually to continue follow our Lord Jesus Christ.

The psalmist's petition at the end can easily be turned into our daily prayer asking God to keep us from wrongs that we may live right for God, our fellow human beings and our environment in a time of sociopolitical turmoils and ecological uncertainties.

Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord , my rock and my redeemer.

Psalms 19:13‭-‬14 NRSV-CI

I hope this reading of Psalm 19 will be helpful.

Reading Psalms 3 with 2 Samuel 15-18

2020-09-12T10:33:00.001+08:00

I decided to read Psalms 3 parallel to the account of the events in 2 Samuel 15-18. I find this exercise astonishingly fruitful. It makes me wonder if Psalms 3 was written based on David's reflection of the event of his fleeing from his son Absalom on that fateful night.

O Lord , how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying to me, “There is no help for you in God.” Selah

Psalms 3:1‭-‬2 NRSV-CI

Verse 1 reflects what's happening in 2 Samuel when the messenger brought the message to David. The people have turned against him to Absalom through his careful scheming to win their hearts and his conspiracy with unsuspected guests who accepted his invitation to gather.

A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the Israelites have gone after Absalom.”

2 Samuel 15:13 NRSV-CI

Verse 2 shows the doubt shown by David himself in the event's unfolding. He knew the wrong he had done against Uriah and the judgement on him and his family.

Thus says the Lord : I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun.

2 Samuel 12:11 NRSV-CI

So when Absalom rebelled, David was unsurprisingly ready to give in, suffer defeat and give away his throne to the point of calling his son the king and waiting to see how his son would decide his fate without even an effort to fight.

His doubt of his standing before YHWH was reflected in his conversation with his priests when they came to him with the ark of the covenant which represented the Presence and Glory of the Lord.

Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord , he will bring me back and let me see both it and the place where it stays. But if he says, ‘I take no pleasure in you,’ here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.”

2 Samuel 15:25‭-‬26 NRSV-CI

David knew God was judging him for his sin. It's the worldview of the time for people to think that whoever is the king, God is with him. But more than that, David himself was uncertain or doubtful if God was still with him or whether he had the right standing before Him. This again was seen in David's reaction when he was cursed by his adversary.

David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord has bidden him.

2 Samuel 16:11 NRSV-CI

Selah

But you, O Lord , are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. I cry aloud to the Lord , and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah

Psalms 3:3‭-‬4 NRSV-CI

After an interlude or perhaps reflection, the psalmist believes that God is indeed with him, protecting him in this adversity and that He has not left him. What changed David's doubt and uncertainty? It's because God answered his prayer or the cry of his heart with what transpired next as recorded in 2 Samuel.

How did God answer David's prayer? I think the clue comes from his reference to the holy hill. Two holy hills come to my mind reading Samuel. First, the Mount of Olives. Second, undoubtedly Jerusalem, the city on the hill.

What happened on the Mount of Olives? 2 Samuel 16 recorded David received encouragement in the form of sustenance from Ziba. When we're in the midst of trouble, any help is welcomed and in David's case, seen as God's providence.

But more importantly, it was on the Mount of Olives that David prayed against his traitorous and wise advisor, Ahithophel. It was also on the summit where God was worshipped (2 Samuels 15:32) that David sent Hushai to Absalom who became the key factor for the usurper's defeat when he chose Hushai's advise instead of Ahithophel.

This is only part one. What completes the answering of David's prayer comes from the second holy hill, Jerusalem.

Hushai's success in overturning Ahithophel's counsel was seen as God working to protect David and deliver him from death. And Hushai's effort in getting the word out to David through Jonathan's sons, again by God's providence, was the answer to David's prayer coming from the holy hill literally. It allowed David to escape, by crossing the Jordan, encirclement and death from Ahithophel's twelve thousand men if his counsel would have succeeded.

Selah

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me. I am not afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.

Psalms 3:5‭-‬6 NRSV-CI

I believe David was really expecting to die at the hands of his son after hearing Hushai's warning for him to delay no further. He expected Absalom's army to come anytime soon to deliver the final blow. He was not expecting to wake up again from his sleep after tiring himself through the crossing throughout the night, but he did because God had delivered him from certain death. Notice the number "ten thousands" somewhat matches the number chosen by Ahithophel.

This gave David renewed faith and confidence that God would indeed deliver him from his predicament.

Rise up, O Lord ! Deliver me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.

Psalms 3:7 NRSV-CI

As David's men crossed the river by daybreak, he pleaded to God to arise as well for deliverance and defeat his enemies. After the interlude of his sleep, where he was expecting nothing more than the jaws of death, his confidence totally changed realizing that he was still alive because God sustained him. David was even confident enough to call for the death of his enemies. But who was his actual enemy? Who wanted David's head?

Yes, Absalom eventually set out to kill David, but it was Ahithophel, David's traitorous friend who, for the strategic reason of ensuring no further opportunities were given to David to regain his throne, gave Absalom a deadly counsel to have his father killed when he had already surrendered his kingdom without fighting him. David only mustered his men to defeat Absalom when he came to Gilead with his army.

God indeed answered David's prayer by defeating Ahithophel's counsel, sending him to his own suicidal death because he knew that David or his men would eventually come for him because of his treachery.

Deliverance belongs to the Lord ; may your blessing be on your people! Selah

Psalms 3:8 NRSV-CI

David's surrender to Absalom was also motivated from his care and concern for his people. He even cared for the foreigners who decided to follow him in his escape. He wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and death. This realization was heightened by Shimei's curse that he indeed won the kingdom by the lives of many fallen warriors on both sides in a civil war. All of them Israelites. God's people. He had blood on his hands especially Uriah's.

In the end, the psalmist sums up the truth from his contemplation of David's escape from Absalom. The fateful event that showed God's righteousness and faithfulness in judging David's sin while preserving him to ensure His promise to David and the covenant with Abraham would be fulfilled. Deliverance comes from the Lord and He is faithful to His people.

On my 30th year today since the Lord Jesus Christ called me, I will do well to remember this. God is righteous, faithful and gracious to His people. He will judge what's wrong and deliver His people. Amen.

Selah

Ephesians & Romans

2020-08-11T23:00:00.001+08:00

Like to the Romans (start of chapter 12 in particular), Paul was writing to the churches in and around Ephesus that since God had shown His glorious grace and love in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in order to bring them into His family and share the spiritual blessings promised to the Israelites, they should now, based on God's revelation of His love, live for His glory and remain steadfast, not turning back to their old sinful ways despite hardships and difficulties.

"If it is love that believes the resurrection, it is because the resurrection reveals the Creator's sovereign love for creation and the utter lengths to which he would go to rescue and restore it and to fulfill its age-old purpose." (N.T Wright, History & Eschatology, 205)

Start Right Here - Casting Crowns

2020-07-30T10:03:00.004+08:00

This is a meaningful song. It can't be just praise and worship concerts and blessings for our lives. We need to live worthy of His calling and glory. God help us to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly in the Spirit. Amen.

We want our coffee in the lobby

We watch our worship on a screen

We got a Rockstar preacher

Who won't wake us from our dreams

We want out blessings in our pocket

We keep our missions overseas

But for the hurting in our cities

Would we even cross the street?

Huh but we wanna see the heart set free and the tyrants kneel

The walls fall down and our land be healed

But church if we want to see a change in the world out there

It's got to start right here

It's got to start right now

Lord, I'm starting right here

Lord, I'm starting right now

I'm like the brother of the prodigal

Who turned his nose and puffed his chest

He didn't run off like his brother

But his soul was just as dead

What if the church on Sunday

Was still the church on Monday too?

What if we came down from our towers

And walked a mile in someone's shoes?

Hmm 'cause we wanna see the heart set free and the tyrants kneel

The walls fall down and our land be healed

But church if we want to see a change in the world out there

It's got to start right here

It's got to start right now

Lord, I'm starting right here

Lord, I'm starting right now

We're the people who are called by His name

If we'll surrender all our pride and turn from our ways

He will hear from Heaven and forgive our sin

He will heal our land but it starts right here

We're the people who are called by His name

If we'll surrender all our pride and turn from our ways

He will hear from Heaven and forgive our sin

He will heal our land

It's got to start right here

It's got to start right now

Lord, I'm starting right here

Lord, I'm starting right now

It's got to start right here

It's got to start right now

Lord, I'm starting right here

Lord, I'm starting right now

Source: LyricFind

#Music

Love of God

2020-07-25T11:49:00.001+08:00

Experiencing the love of God

Two weeks ago, while having bible study on the book of Romans at Austin's place, we discussed about the experience that Paul had of the love of God so much so that he was able to say that nothing would separate him from the love of God, not even death. We discussed during the bible study that we have not experienced such love of God in our lives until we were able to say what Paul said with similar faith and conviction. We said we were missing this experience of God's love which Paul wrote of in Romans 5 and 8. So our challenge today from Paul is are we able to say like what he said 2000 years ago that nothing will be able to separate us from God and His love for us. Are we able to say this convincingly and with full conviction live out of lives in such a way?

Before we actually attempt to answer this question, perhaps we need to know first of all what is the love of God. What is the love of God as understood in the bible? And how did the apostle Paul describe his understanding of his experience of the grace and the love of God. To answer this question, we need to look at key passages in Romans 5-8.

Love, if it is not defined and understood within biblical teaching will mean different sorts of things in our modern age. It's meaning can range from charity to the poor, to filial piety, and even in purely sexual terms. So, we need to know how Paul understood the love of God. He stated quite clearly the characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13. That is very true. However, we want to go one step further to understand how Paul defined the love of God. And the answer is found in these verses. In Romans 5:6-8, Paul has this to say about the love of God.

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The love of God is shown in the action of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. This the Lord did while we were still sinners, while we were still His enemies, while we still hated, mocked him and together with the Roman soldiers crucified Him in our ignorance. How many times we mocked those who preached Christ to us while we were still unbelievers? How many times we said the derogatory words of "kong Ye Soo"?

In Romans 5:1, Paul says that we now have peace with God because of what Jesus had done. This peace means that God is no longer our enemy and He would not condemn us anymore. It is like a jail sentence that has been removed from us. We have committed a crime worthy of life imprisonment but because of Jesus, we are now free. It is like someone has taken the blame for us when we mess up our job. It is like our parents taking care of us when we are in trouble even though we had scolded or rejected them. It is like a victim who has lost his family to a drunk driver but chooses to forgive the guilty person, and not only to forgive, but to see to his restoration to turn away from alcoholism. It is like forgiving your political enemy who has wrongly harmed you in all sorts of way. It is like forgiving the murderer of your son or daughter. This is what Paul meant by God allowing Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

That is why we do not judge with the intent to condemn when we are wronged, no matter how great the wrong is. That is why Paul says later in Romans 12,

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

20 To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is not being naive or stupid. This is not masochism where you love to be wronged or suffer other people's wrongdoing. This is because we have done the same thing to Jesus and He forgave us. More than that, He has restored us with the hope of future blessing and He has commanded us to forgive those who do the same thing to us, leaving it to Him to judge those who wronged us. And just as Jesus forgave us, His enemies, to our benefit, we are to do the same for our enemies, regardless of race, religion and political alignment. No matter how discriminated you are, no matter how much you are ridiculed for your faith or no matter what the political alignment your enemy belongs to, we are commanded to love them for their benefit just as Jesus did for us. Christ died for us while we are His enemies and God allowed this. This is God's love to us.

James D.G. Dunn

2020-06-27T19:34:00.001+08:00

Just learned that James D.G. Dunn has passed away.

I was introduced to Dunn's Jesus Remembered about a decade ago by a colleague at my workplace when I was asking the question, "Is this what Christianity is all about?" And through his writing, I learned about the research on historical Jesus and Wright's work, Jesus, and the Victory of God, on this matter. Dunn's book was the first step toward opening my eyes to historical research on Jesus and the first century church, providing me a path to search for the answer to my question. Thank you James Dunn.

A Perfect Summary of the First Century Church and Their Beliefs

2020-06-27T11:50:00.001+08:00

In Wright's book, History & Eschatology, which is based on his a 2018 Guilford Lectures, I find a perfect summary of the first century church's beliefs.

"The young Christian movement was recognisably Jewish. It pressed all the buttons, though in a totally unexpected way: the royal leader had won the decisive battle; the Temple was destroyed and rebuilt; Daniel's long exile was over; freedom and forgiveness had arrived in the present; the covenant had been renewed, creation itself was restored, and the One God had returned in a shockingly new kind of glory."

"They were saying, in a thoroughly Jewish way, that the symbols and stories of Israel had been fulfilled in a shocking and decisive manner; that in this all too human story---hence the choice of the biological genre, however modified---not only the promises of a coming Messiah but also the promise of the returning creator and covenant God had been realised. Jesus had truly joined together God's space and human space, heaven and earth. In him God's planned future for the whole cosmos was truly anticipated in the present. In him, so the early church claimed, we see revealed the true Image of God."

I think the church needs to recapture these themes in all aspects of our lives in order to reflect God's glory in Jesus Christ to the world.

Putting On The Armour of God - It's Not A Magical Spell! It's A Lifestyle!

2020-06-20T12:24:00.001+08:00

I've been thinking about spiritual warfare on and off. My concern is the way I see how some are applying what they've leaned about spiritual warfare, particularly the armour of God.

I think the practice of putting on the armour of God by a verbal confession, usually in prayer, is a misinterpretation of Ephesians 6.

Doing it that way is akin to invoking a magical spell to obtain a magical item to be used in the present reality. Something which I'm quite certain Paul never intended the church at Ephesus to practice. (Acts 19)

I think the better way to understand what Paul wrote in chapter 6 is to look at the context of what he had already written before the final chapter of the letter.

From chapter 4 until chapter 6, before the exhortation to put on the armour of God, Paul had been telling the church at Ephesus to live according to the commandments of the Lord.

Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. (Eph 4:17)

Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (Eph 5:15-16)

In fact, the theme of evil day associated with the advice to put on the armour of God is directly related to what Paul said in chapter 5 about how the church should conduct themselves as disciples of the Lord.

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. (Eph 6)

The phrase having done everything is like Paul summing up what he required the church to do from chapter 4 until now.

In this sense, it's like Paul was saying, after doing what's right to live like Jesus or according to the Lord's teachings, the church needs to stand firm in times of trials, like soldiers not breaking ranks in battle. Don't turnaround and run away from the battlefield. Don't fall away from the Lord when difficulties arise.

The armour of God is then more associated to living right in the eyes of the Lord if chapter 5 and 6 are to be read together.

Therefore, taking up the armour of God is less related to a verbal declaration or prayer to have the items magically applied to our spiritual bodies, but more of if we live in truth, righteousness, and faith, always ready to act for the gospel, mindful of God's salvation, holding on to His word and constantly praying in the Spirit, then we will have the armour to protect us in times of trials.

I think this is a more faithful reading of what Paul wrote about putting on the armour of God. Live according to Christ and we will have the ability to stand firm when challenges come our way.

Surprised by Suffering

2020-06-19T08:33:00.005+08:00

Surprised by Suffering

(1 Peter 4:12-19)

Good morning. I am a substitute teacher today. PJEFC didn’t send one. I hope I won’t disappoint you.

Pastor gave me a topic for today. Surprised by Joy. But instead of joy, I am doing the exact opposite. I am going to talk about suffering instead. Surprised by Suffering. It's based on 1 Peters 4:12-19. Always the rebellious Israel.

But seriously, I think Surprised by Suffering is a more accurate reading.

Outline

I am going to try to keep this short, but, hopefully, interesting and illuminating. Today’s sermon can be broken into three parts. First, a bit of history. Reading Scriptures without historical context is dangerous. Most heresies begin that way. Then, we will look at Peter’s letter as a whole and his core message. What Peter was trying to tell his listeners, particularly his solution to what they were going through. Lastly, I am going to touch a little on some misreadings that lead to strange teaching on spiritual warfare and healing.

Part 1 - Historical Background

Nero & the Fiery Ordeal

Peter likely wrote this letter around 63-64 AD while in Rome. The letter was written by Silas, Paul’s companion. The infamous Nero was the caesar of the Roman Empire. The caesar who likely had Peter and Paul, and many Christians executed after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. Nero used them as scapegoats for the fire that devastated the city, which many suspected he started. One wonders if Peter’s frequent theme of fire as a test of faith was somehow related to this event.

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:7)

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12)

Why Christians Were Targeted?

As Rev. Barnabas and Pastor Adelaine have rightly taught in previous weeks, Peter was writing to encourage the Christians in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, because they were undergoing intense suffering from those who opposed them. There were two major reasons why they were suffering.

First, it was because of their new found faith in Jesus. And as followers of Jesus, their lifestyle was at odds with those who didn’t believe. They were viewed with suspicion because religion was public life, but Christians practiced their rituals in secrecy. Christians were ostracized because of rumours that they were cannibals, eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus, and committed incest because they regarded one another as brothers and sisters.

More importantly, Christians refused to participate in the religious rituals of the majority around them. They believed that bad things happened to them because of the Christians angering the gods. They were upset that Christians were not like them. They were like them before, but now they were like foreigners after their conversion.

You can see glimpses of this historical reality in Peter’s letter. (1 Pet. 1:17; 2:11;4:1-6)

The second reason is Nero’s persecution after the great fire. Many Christians were arrested and brutally executed. Christians were "being thrown to the beasts, crucified, and being burned alive". When the emperor of the Roman empire was openly killing Christians, naturally the local communities and governors would be emboldened to do the same. This certainly made Peter’s solution all the harder to follow.

[Another historical fact worth mentioning is the letter was not read as we do now. It was heard. Most were likely illiterate and literature was expensive. Like Paul’s letters, it was read out to a gathering of believers as it circulated across Asia Minor.]

Part 2 - Peter’s Message

Now, we come to Peter’s message. Peter was encouraging the Christians to hold on during a difficult period of persecution. How did Peter do it? How did he encourage them?

First, he gave theological grounds for a very real problem. Even when Peter gave practical advice, it was infused with theological reasoning. I know many think that theology is impractical and mere theory. Academic stuff. Not for the real world. But, Peter didn’t think that way. Neither did Paul. Neither did the gospel writers. The New Testament was not written as a manual of dos and don’ts. It was not an ancient self-help-feel-good book. Essentially, it was doctrinal letters and biographies.

The solution offered by Peter can be summed up in 1 Peter 1:13-14

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. (1 Peter 1:13-14)

Peter used theological reasoning to encourage the suffering Christians at Asia Minor.

He asked them to set their hope on the salvation and inheritance which Jesus Christ would reveal at his coming. (1 Peter 1:13)
He reminded them that their Lord, Jesus, the Saviour, also suffered the same. (1 Peter 2:21) The Lord would have asked the same question, “why do I need to suffer this injustice and evil?” God's answer would be “I will prove and judge them wrong”.
He warned them not to fall back to sinful ways in times of trial (1 Peter 1:14; 1 Peter 2:9-11; 1 Pet 4:2) because they were redeemed at great cost (1 Pet 1:18-19), given birth through the living word (1 Pet 1:23) and chosen for greater glory (2 Pet 2:9-10). Peter knew it was extremely easy for Christians to fall back to their old ways in times of trouble.

Hope in God.

Set your eyes on Jesus.

And don’t turn back.

That’s Peter’s solution.

In addition, he also taught them that:

They were suffering because those who didn't believe could not understand why they were different. Why they don't live like they did. In ways that were displeasing to God. (1 Pet 4:4)
God would indeed judge in the end (1 Pet 4:5, 17-18) and give justice to those who suffered righteously. God’s justice would be impartial to both Christians and non-Christians. That is why he warned them never to fall away. (1 Pet 1:17)
It was blessed to suffer as a Christian, and for doing what was right. It was right to suffer if they did what was wrong. (1 Pet 4:14-16; 1 Pet 3:14) He taught them to provide a reason why they chose to hope in God, endure suffering under the hands of evil men, not retaliating and all the while doing good. (1 Pet 3:15-16; 1 Pet 2:22-23)

To sum up Peter’s message, it is best to listen to what he said directly.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. (1 Pet 4:12-14)

This echoes the words of our Lord in Matthew 5.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt. 5:10-12)

And Peter gave extremely difficult advice to three groups of people in the ancient world who often suffer abuse and injustice.

Subjugated People (1 Pet 2:13-17)

Slaves (1 Pet 2:18-21)

Women (1 Pet 3: 1-6)

And when suffering injustice, Peter said the same thing as Jesus and Paul did. Do not repay evil with evil. Love your enemies. Let God be the judge.

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. (1 Pet 3.9)

And Peter and Paul lived out literally what they taught as both died in the hands of a wicked Roman emperor. And they did not retaliate nor repay evil with evil. They themselves became living examples to all believers on how to follow Jesus who first suffered and died for all.

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body has finished with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2)

Hope in Christ in suffering and persevere. Don't fall back to sin. God will judge and restore in the end.

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. (1 Peter 4:19)

Part 3 - Misinterpreted Texts

Finally, I want to end my sermon with two correctives. Two passages are often incorrectly quoted to teach about spiritual warfare and healing.

Paul’s armour of God in Ephesians 6 and Peter’s quote of Isaiah 53.

Paul said, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:10-13)

We often take this out of context and use it for very strange teaching about spiritual warfare. But, the actual context is about “standing your ground when the day of evil comes”.

What does that mean?

Peter explained it in his first letter.

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Pet 5:8-9)

Do you see the same language used by Peter and Paul?

The message is about standing firm in faith and not falling away during evil days, during times of sufferings. Because the devil’s scheme is always to tempt suffering Christians to give up and fall back into sin. Paul and Peter, referring to Jesus’ own trial against the devil in the desert, admonished the brethren to stand firm, and don’t give in. To continue to do what's right.

Paul and Peter’s “spiritual warfare” passages are about holding on in times of trouble with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, hope of salvation, Scriptures and prayer.

On healing, Peter’s often misunderstood quote of Isaiah 53 is not about physical healing, but turning away from the death of sin to the life of righteousness.

‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’ For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Pet 2:22-25)

The phrase “by his wounds you have been healed” is sandwiched like a hamburger patty between two pieces of bread. The “you have been healed” are to be understood as “we might die to sins and live for righteousness” and “sheep that are astray returning to the shepherd”. In other words, Christ’s suffering and death turned us away from sin and back to God. That’s how Isaiah prophesied and how Peter understood it.

Let us pray.

------ End ------

Language of the Universe & Logos

2020-04-19T11:41:00.003+08:00

"For reasons nobody understands, the universe is deeply mathematical. Maybe God made it that way. Or maybe it's the only way a universe with us in it could be, because nonmathematical universes can't harbor life intelligent enough to ask the question." (Steven Strogatz)

Reading about the history of calculus (I'm always interested to learn more about a subject most difficult to me especially through popular scientific writings) in Infinite Powers, I cannot help, but to link the above with what's written in Paul's letter to the Colossians.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:15‭-‬17 NRSV-CI

https://bible.com/bible/2015/col.1.15-17.NRSV-CI

And in John's Gospel,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being

John 1:1‭-‬3 NRSV-CI

https://bible.com/bible/2015/jhn.1.1-3.NRSV-CI

Maybe we can go one step further. The mathematical universe is the way it is because the language of mathematics is our way to depict the Word (Logos) John wrote about, the Logos who made the world and holds it together.

Perhaps physicists and mathematicians are actually working out the image of God in mathematical equations. And ultimately, all these equations and maybe even the theory of everything can be summed up in the Logos John and Paul wrote two thousand years ago.

Reading Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright

2020-02-08T08:08:00.002+08:00

"The myth of progress, then, has been enormously powerful in our culture. In fact, it still is, not least as an implicit belief to which one can appeal to justify any and every “development” in a supposed liberalizing, humanizing, freedom-bringing direction."

The internet and social media only serve to expose our own inherent and prevalent sinful nature through an ever explosive expression of racist and fascist thoughts (manifested in the new phenomenon of 'fake news'), extremist ideologies and uninhibited debauchery in the name of progress. All these make us not more human, but less. We're dehumanized by it. We're not liberated, rather we are captured, imprisoned and divided into warring factions by it.

John 3

2013-07-14T09:52:00.001+08:00

Reading this chapter yesterday at the care group, I learned a couple of things.

First, Nicodemus coming in the night was due to the peer pressure from his fellow Pharisees and rulers who would not consider Jesus as being sent by God. Nicodemus on the other hand at least believe this point. And like what John said in the previous chapter, Nicodemus was one of those who believed in Jesus because of the signs he saw, particularly, the temple cleansing as only the Messiah was expected to do it.

However, further reading of the discourse between Nicodemus and Jesus showed that he's not necessary the positive believer of the Lord that I had come to think of him previously. It's as if this discourse at night was to describe how Jesus knew the hearts of man and how he would not commit himself to those who believed superficially or at surface level only.

The discourse itself was interesting cause Jesus already knew what Nicodemus was going to ask even before he asked it. Jesus immediately answered Nicodemus' need to understand how one could be accepted into God's kingdom when it finally arrives, how he could be counted righteous and worthy to enter into God's kingdom.

At this point, the understanding of God's kingdom was not a heavenly place in eternity and in spiritual form. God's kingdom was understood as God freeing Israel from the Romans and establishes again the independent nation of Israel under the rule of God's appointed king, the Messiah, the Christ.

Jesus' answer for Nicodemus was that he must repent in baptism and be renewed by the Spirit whom God was going to give upon repentance. Rebirth in symbolic sense, by water and by the Spirit. But Nicodemus could not get pass this concept. Either he was too focused on the natural rebirth which was impossible, which also caused him to question whether Jesus was really from God because it seemed absurd to him, and someone from God could not have spoken such things, or he understood the symbolic language and could not accept that his way of following Jewish laws and traditions were totally left out of the equation.

Whatever the reason, Nicodemus demonstrated himself as the example of those described by John in the previous chapter, one who believed in Jesus upon seeing the signs, but was not ready to believe in totality what Jesus was going to say and teach about God's kingdom.

Upon rejecting this 'earthly teaching', Nicodemus totally disappeared from the discourse as Jesus continued teaching about the 'heavenly things' in which the famous John 3:16 was embedded. Thus, this verse which is so often used to demonstrate God's grace and love to unbelievers actually originated from a discourse between Jesus and a Jewish ruler who in the end did not believe, hence the continuation in which Jesus pronounced judgement on those who did not believe in his teachings.

In the second part of the chapter, when John the Baptist was again questioned on his authority to baptise since the one whom he baptised earlier now seemed to baptise even more people than him, he openly acknowledged that the one whom he baptised was indeed the one who had the higher authority. The question to him was to challenge his authority by making Jesus' growing reputation and popularity as a weapon. John's response was that he gladly surrendered the authority to the One whom indeed the authority belonged.

By referring Jesus as the bridegroom and the people as the bride, John was bringing the imagery of God reconciling His wayward wife, Israel, to him thus pointing to the fact that Jesus was representing God in bringing His people back. Jesus was embodying God's authority and God Himself, something that the Lord symbolically alluded to frequently to those who heard him in the dangerous revolutionary environment of first century Israel.

Many Leaves, One Tree

2013-06-10T00:24:00.001+08:00

Different Spiritual Gifts for Different People

When I was a young Christian in the varsity, I believed that every believer should speak in tongues as a sign that the believer has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. I even argued fervently with my non-charismatic brethren in the varsity fellowship about this causing much anger and schism at times to the fellowship of which I now regret. 20 years down the road, I could see now how this teaching is not really supported by the Scriptures. Why do I say so? Please read on.

Most of the time, a preacher will use Mark 16:17, "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; (NIV)" as evidence for teaching that every Christian should speak in tongues since we are classified as believers. The emphasis is always on the phrase "those who believe", as if Mark is writing that every believer will speak in tongues.

However, there is a serious flaw or weakness to understand this phrase in such a way. Because if we think that this phrase is telling us that all believers should speak in tongues, then we must also tell ourselves that, if we believe in Jesus, then we should also do the following:

- drive out demons
- pick up snakes with their hands
- unhurt by deadly poison
- healing the sick by the laying of hands

This is because verse 17 did not say only the sign of tongues will follow those who believe. The verse says "And these signs ...". What are these signs?

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. (Mark 16:17-18)

What does that say to us? If we think that every believer should speak in tongues, then we must also believe that every Christian should be pick up snakes without being harmed and drink deadly poison without any serious harm to our body!

Thank God that I have not heard any preacher thus far requiring believers to charm snakes and drink deadly poison! God forbid that I should hear one in future (although I think we most probably will judging by the signs of time)!

We can't take one sign and leave out the rest because that's just like picking the scriptures that we want to hear and omit those we don't like. I know Ahab likes that, but we are glad that we are not called to be 'Ahabs'. (2 Chronicles 18:6-27)

Important principle in reading the Bible: Never just read a single phrase and give meaning to it without referring to other similar passages or stories.

So how do we actually understand what Mark is saying? There are two ways, one is short and the other is long. I guess the shorter one will suffice for now. ;-)

Read Mark 16:20, "Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it."

Notice the word signs. What do you think this word means? Mostly likely the same signs that Mark wrote in verses 17 and 18.

Then look at that the purpose of these signs and those who were performing it? It was the disciples preaching the gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission of verse 15 who were being used by the Lord to perform the signs for the purpose of confirming that the gospel which they were preaching was the correct gospel.

Therefore, the believers performing the signs in Mark 16:15-20 were the disciples who were preaching the gospel and not every believer. And the reason these signs were given by the Lord was because He wanted to show that He was working with the disciples to confirm the gospel that they were preaching was actually what He wanted to tell the world through the disciples!

You can see this in Acts when the gift of tongues shows the giving of God's Spirit. It's always done to confirm the gospel preached by the apostles especially when the gospel is being expanded to reach wider groups of people who are culturally separated from the Jews in Israel.

Acts 2, confirmed the preaching of Peter and expanded the gospel to Jews outside of Jerusalem, whom the Jews in Judea considered as less Jewish. Acts 7, confirmed the preaching of Philip and expanded the gospel to the Samaritans who were usually rejected by the Jews. Acts 10, confirmed the preaching of Peter and expanded the gospel to the Gentiles whom the Jews considered as not belonging to God. Acts 19, confirmed Paul's complete gospel.

Now, does this mean that spiritual gifts are only meant for those who preaches the gospel? Not necessary. Read 1 Corinthians 12 and listen to what Paul has to say. I will make a brief summary. God will give spiritual gifts to whom He sees fit not just for the individual, but for the benefit of the entire church (1 Cor. 12:7, 1 Cor 14:26). And He will give different gifts to different parts of His church as He sees fit (1 Cor. 12:11).

As Paul wrote quite clearly, not everyone will heal and not everyone will perform miracles. And not everyone will speak in tongues.

.. Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Cor. 12:29-30)

Nevertheless, our heart should always desire spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:31, 1 Cor. 14:1) not just for ourselves but for the common good of the church which is why Paul later wrote in the next chapter that all these gifts were meant to be performed in love to benefit others as love always does.

Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Cor. 12:31 & 1 Cor. 13-1)

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. (1 Cor. 14:1)

And as for the gift of tongues, here is a summary of what Paul wrote (1 Cor. 14):

1. Not all speak in tongues
2. Tongues benefit the person speaking it in prayer as God understands it
3. Tongues cannot be understood by the church or unbeliever unless interpreted
4. Tongues does not benefit anyone when spoken in public without an interpretation
5. Desire speaking in tongues for personal edification
6. Desire interpretation of tongues even more for the benefit of the church and unbelievers
7. Better to speak a few words which everyone can understand than speak thousands of words in tongues if we cannot interpret it

Wow, such a long piece and this was meant to be the shorter answer! ;-)

In conclusion:

1. Not every Christian believer will speak in tongues
2. Tongues is not the only sign that God has given you the Holy Spirit. Faith, hope and love are better evidence.
3. Tongues and other signs are evidence that our God and the Lord Jesus is real.
4. Always desire spiritual gifts because it will not only help you, it will also be used to help others as this is the purpose of God's gift to you and to His people.

Thanks for listening and may the Lord bless the hearing of His words.

Understanding faith, work and salvation correctly

2013-05-30T15:00:00.001+08:00

There has been a serious misunderstanding concerning the nature of faith and works and their relationship with salvation amongst Christians. This misunderstanding arises due to the general teachings that we have received concerning salvation by faith. We have been told by our well-meaning Christian friends and teachers before and after we have believed that salvation could only come through faith in Christ Jesus. And this is indeed true. Salvation is indeed through faith in the grace of our Lord's sacrifice on the cross and in His resurrection. For those struggling whether you are saved or not, if you truly believe that the Lord has died and rose again for our sins, then you are saved. The problem begins when we are told that being a Christian only needs faith, without any works at all, which makes Christians perplexed in trying to understand verses in the Bible where good works are deemed to be very important in Christian life, and strangely, sometimes even to the point that salvation is almost equivalent to good works done by a believer's throughout his life. Here are some important examples, but the list is not limited to these few. (Rom. 8:12-13; Matt. 7:24-27; Rom. 2:6-8,13; James 1:22-25; Gal. 6:8-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10) The bible is filled with such similar teaching and warning.

Problem
In our passion to assure new and struggling Christians of their salvation, we tell them that all they need is to believe and confess, and nothing else. This leads to some Christians thinking and even abusing this truth by saying that if it is by faith, then works are no longer needed. This causes them to think that they can do whatever they want as long as they say they believe, as if faith is totally separated from works and is exclusive to one another. That is why there is a modern term that labels some Christians as practicing Christians and some as non-practicing Christians, as if you can be a Christian without living or acting as one. It is as if a mere confession in one point of time is sufficient. But is this biblical and correct?

In Romans 3:7-8, Paul has this to say to those who think that they can do whatever they want because they think that God's grace will be magnified by the many sins that they have done. Paul says those who think this way are justly punished by God when He judges later.

Works of the law
So what is the correct biblical understanding between faith and works? First, let us address one misunderstanding that is due to a wrong interpretation of Paul's writing on the works of the law especially in the letter to the Romans and Galatians. Let us take a look at a few verses from these letters as examples. In Romans 3:20 & Galatians (2:15-16; 3:11), we could see Paul arguing that no one can be justified or declared righteous before God by works of the law. Now, this is where the misunderstanding starts. Some will think that here is the proof that works is not necessary to be right with God. We just need to believe, some will think.

But this is actually a wrong interpretation of the verses. What Paul means by works are the works of the law like the Jewish laws of circumcision, Sabbath, food, etc. Paul is challenging the Jews of his time, who are thinking that to be right with God, to become the people of God, to be blessed by God and to be saved by God, you need to observe these Jewish works of the law. We have to understand the context of Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Galatians in the first century in order to interpret his writings correctly. To be circumcised, to observe Sabbath, to eat clean food and to follow the rituals of the Jewish law, these are the works of the law that Paul is referring to.

Paul is not saying that faith is against doing what is right or living righteously (Rom. 2). If you are to read the letters entirely, you will notice that Paul is referring to the Jewish works of the law, and not about doing what is right before God. At the end of Romans (Rom. 12-15) and Galatians (Gal. 5-6), you will see Paul emphasizing constantly on living and walking in the Spirit, doing what is right in the Spirit and bearing the fruits of the Spirit, to live faithfully as Christian and wait for the final redemption of the Lord when He returns.

Even the famous verse in Romans 8 that says that "now there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" is followed up with the requirement to live and walk in the Spirit. We need to read the entire passage of text rather than a single verse or two.

Faith and works are partners
So, the first misunderstanding is that we must never think that Christianity is just about believing in the heart without any works or action. Faith constantly produces works and works clearly demonstrates the existence and the reality of faith. That is why James says that without works, our faith is actually dead. We show our faith by the actions that we do (James 2:17-22). Faith is only active and complete by works. Faith and works are two sides of a coin. Paul stresses that what is important before God in terms of righteousness is faith working through love (Gal. 5:6).

We are never saved by circumcision or any works of the law, or for that matter by good works that we do. We are saved by faith in the grace of God through Jesus Christ. But, this faith that saves is always shown and complete through works done in love for God and His people. That is why we find so many verses that we read just now reminding us that we must continue to do what is right, obey God's commandments and walk in the Spirit until the very end because this demonstrates our faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. If you have faith, you will want to obey Him and do what He has commanded you because you believe in Him. Not in order to be saved, but to show that you actually have faith in our Lord. That is what faith is all about. This is how the righteous, those who have been saved, shall live, by continuously living in active faith (Rom. 1:17).

Faith is enduring
This brings us to the last, but very important point. Faith is not just a point in time when we confessed that Jesus is our Lord. Yes, Paul says that we are saved when we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth (Rom. 10:9-10), and that is correct. But he never says that this is merely referring to a single point in time. Notice that in the following chapter (Rom. 11:22), he says, "Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off." Paul warns the Gentile Christians in Rome that they must continue to believe. If not they too will be cut off from God just like the Jews in his time who did not believe in Christ Jesus. This warning is again repeated by the author of Hebrews.

"4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned." (Heb. 6:4-8)

Notice that this warning is actually directed at genuine Christians, Christians who are once saved and received the gift of the Spirit, but yet completely turned away from the Lord.

There is comfort though because the same author writes in the following verses,

"9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things-things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

He believes that they will hold on to their faith until the end. And the reason he believes so is because of the works of love shown to other believers by these Hebrew Christians. These works of love indicate that they are following the faith of those who will in the end receive the full promise of God. A faith perfected by works of love that endures and last until the end. This is the same principal teaching that Paul writes in Gal. 5:6, faith working through love. The author of Hebrew believes the Hebrew Christians will be saved because they have shown faith that is alive through actions done in love.

And if we ever fail to live up to our faith and sin, if we come back to the Lord and repent and confess our sins, He is always just and faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We constantly need to repent from our sins and failures and that is part of acting in faith too!

In closing, let us remember these important points. Faith and works are partners. Faith is always followed by works done in love in obedience to His commandments. Faith and good works are not enemies. Secondly, this faith must endure, which means we must hold on to it until the very end. We must run and finish our race of faith in Christ Jesus while we are here on earth and be rewarded when He returns. We must continue to believe to the very end. So, let us not grow weary in doing good as this demonstrates our faith and love towards our Lord. Amen.

Where Critics Go Wrong by John Dickson

2012-05-17T16:40:00.002+08:00

In answering the criticisms by new atheist authors like Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkings that religion, specifically Christianity, is the main cause of violence in human history, John Dickson wrote a brief, but brilliant piece as a response and a challenge to those who hold such a distorted view.

"This is not to say that critics like Hitchens are entirely right. First, it has to be said that modern retellings of the misdeeds of the church frequently involve gross exaggerations. In his recent book Atheist Delusions, Prof David Bentley Hart points out that every new era tends to retell the past in a way that elevates its own position as the great deliver and bringer of special freedoms, and demotes the reputation of the previous generation. This necessarily requires exaggerating, even lying, about the horrors of the past. We do this on a small scale when we talk about the moralism of the 1950s or the prudishness of Victorian England. It happened on a macro scale in the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries, argues Hart, when Enlightenment leaders popularised the expression "Dark Ages." Here was an attempt to describe the era of Christendom as a time of oppression, ignorance and violence, overcome by the era of freedom and peace brought about by secular reason. However, as Hart points out, this is little more than "a simple and enchanting tale, easily followed and utterly captivating in its explanatory tidiness; its sole defect is that it happens to be false in every identifiable detail. This tale of the birth of the modern world has largely disappeared from respectable academic literature."

Let me offer two examples of these exaggerated retellings of the past. The Spanish Inquisition is often thought to be Christianity at its most bloodthirsty with hundreds of thousands of heretics killed (trawl the Internet and you will even find estimates of a million or more.) However, in its 350-year history, the Spanish Inquisition probably killed around 6,000 people. That comes out at eighteen deaths a year. Of course, one a year-one ever-is too much, but the figure hardly sustains the monstrous narratives we often hear. Or take the iconic Northern Ireland conflict. The thirty-year "troubles" led to the deaths of fewer than 4,000 people. Again, one death "in the name of Christ" is a blasphemy, but how did the Northern Ireland conflict ever come to symbolize the ferocity of the church? Compare it with the thoroughly secular French Revolution. As many people were executed in the name of "liberty, equality and fraternity" in a single year of the Revolution (the "Terror" of September 1793-July1794) as were killed in the entire three decades of the "troubles". And I am still in favour of liberty, equality and fraternity.

And this is my second problem with the complaint of Hitchens and others. The violence of Christendom is dwarfed by that of non-religious causes. such as World War 1 (8,000,000 deaths) and World War II (35,000,000 deaths). Then there is the very awkward fact that the twentieth century's three great atheistic regimes were hotbeds of unrestrained violence. Joseph Stalin's openly atheistic project killed at least 20,000,000 people, which is more people each week than the Spanish Inquisition killed in its entire 350-year history. Pol Pot, another avowed atheist, is known to have slaughtered 2,000,000 people out of a population of 8,000,000. I must emphasise that this is not to claim that atheists are more violent than Christians. It simply underlines that violence is a perennial human problem, not a specifically religious one. And those like Christopher Hitchens who suggest that these communist regimes were quasi-religious in their zeal and so provide further evidence of the pernicious effect of religion have abandoned sincere investigation into the problem and settled upon crass anti-religious apologetics. Better to state the obvious: religion or irreligion can inspire hatred.

The claim that religion has started most of the wars of history ought to cause embarrassment to thinking people. And yet it remains, as David Bentley Hart points out, "the sort of remark that sets many heads sagely nodding in recognition of what seems an undeniable truth. Such sentiments have become so much a part of the conventional grammar of 'enlightened' scepticism that they are scarcely ever subjected to serious scrutiny."

At best, the criticisms of Hitchens and others prove only that Christians have not been Christian enough (sincere believers confess that daily). For anyone can tell you that when Christians are violent and imperialistic they are not obeying their Messiah but defying him who said "love your enemy and do good to those who hate you." The solution to religious violence, then, is not less Christianity but more. As the brilliant Yale University philosopher-theologian Prof Miroslav Volf writes:

"When it comes to Christianity the cure against religiously induced and legitimized violence is almost exactly the opposite of what an important intellectual current in the West since the Enlightenment has been suggesting. The cure is not less religion, but, in a carefully qualified sense, more religion... The more the Christian faith matters to its adherents as faith and the more they practice it as an ongoing tradition with strong ties to its origins and with clear cognitive and moral content, the better off we will be."

The same point was made years ago by our deist friend Albert Einstein. Though a Jew and painfully aware of the inconsistencies of the German church, he believed that what Germany needed in that crucial hour was not less Christianity but more. In his 1915 essay "My Opinion of the War" he wrote: "But why so many words when I can say it in one sentence, and in a sentence very appropriate for a Jew. Honour your master, Jesus Christ, not only in words and songs but, rather, foremost in your deeds." The solution to violent Christianity is real Christianity.

Finally, there is an awkward question that atheist critics ought to face. It has to do with atheism's intellectual capacity to restrain hatred and inspire love. Christians and atheists alike are capable of both love and hate. Agreed. But when Christians love, they do so in full accordance with their worldview that begins with the love of God and the inherent value of his much-loved creatures. When Christians hate, they do so in logical defiance of that worldview. But here is the question: what is there in the atheist's perspective that can rationally inspire love and discourage hate? I know that most atheists (in the Christianized West) choose love over hate. That is to be applauded. But if human beings are accidents in an unknowing universe, how can the decision to love or hate be anything more than a preference, a product of "feelings," as atheist Bertrand Russell once famously acknowledged? On what grounds can the atheist speak rationally of the high and equal value of the poor or the weak or the asylum seeker? Put another way, while it is obvious that only one way of life is logically compatible with Christianity (the Messiah's way of humility and love), any kind of life is logically compatible with atheism.

Acts 2 - The Power Behind Pentecost

2012-05-06T23:06:00.001+08:00

Acts 2 (Part 1)

Yesterday night, we read Acts 2 which is most relevant since Pentecost Sunday will be coming soon. First of all, we learned that the disciples who gathered in the house experienced a supernatural event which they themselves could not describe properly. The event affected their sights and hearing. It sounded like a very strong wind and they saw a vision of flame-like objects falling on each and everyone of them which was followed then by the in filling of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to speak in foreign languages found all over the corners of the Roman empire. They were praising God so loudly in these foreign languages that it caused a great commotion which was coincidently heard by Jewish visitors who lived for most of their lives scattered across the Roman empire, but had return for the Jewish festivals as most devout Jews would do. They and their non-Jewish disciples understood the foreign languages used by the Galilean disciples to praise God. They were very surprised. Some were interested to know the meaning behind this sign, but others were cynical, saying the disciples were drunk because they were evidently talking very loudly (and perhaps acting?) as if they were drunk with alcoholic drinks. What happened next was the most important event in the history of the church of Jesus Christ because it marked the beginning of the church, allowing it to grow from a small group of disciples to a few thousands. Without this initial large group of believers, the church might not have survived the difficulties and the onslaught of persecutions which were to come soon afterwards. So, what happened that caused the church to experience massive grow in a single day? The answer was simple, Peter preached and the crowd believed. So what did Peter preach that caused the people to believe? We looked at how Peter organized his evangelistic sermon. Peter organized his sermon into three major parts. Firstly, (verses 14-21), he answered the question which the crowd was asking after hearing the commotion caused by the disciples praising God loudly in foreign languages which they grew up with. Peter told them that what they were seeing and hearing was a fulfillment of a promise from God. Peter, having learned from Jesus about the kingdom of God after His resurrection (Acts 1), explained to the gathering crowd that He had poured out His Spirit as a sign that God had returned to Israel to set Israel free and to rule over them. Next, (verses 22-32), Peter told the crowd that God had appointed one person to establish His kingdom. This person was Jesus of Nazareth. God showed that He had appointed Jesus by performing signs and miracles through Him. But, the Jews killed Him as God had predicted. However, because Jesus was the appointed Messiah, the Holy One, God resurrected Him as He had promised to David. Finally, (verses 33-36), Peter told the people that God had made Jesus, not only the Messiah, the King of the Jews, He was also appointed as Lord over all the earth, the Supreme Ruler in heaven who would judge everyone. Now what happened next was a complete mystery. Why did the crowd believe what Peter said and repented? Why would they believe in the almost impossible story that God had raised Jesus as both the King of the Jews and Lord of all heaven and earth? Event the apostles and Jesus' closest disciples had a hard time believing in the resurrection of Jesus when they were told by the women and men who first saw Him after His resurrection. Jesus had to appear personally to the apostles before they believed. Jesus did not appear to this crowd whom Peter was addressing, but yet they believed so deeply until they were 'cut to their hearts'. Why? The answer was in Peter's evangelistic sermon. Peter used the only sign that the crowd saw that day. The sign of the Holy Spirit being given to the disciples which caused them to speak and praise God in foreign languages. The crowd did not understand, but Peter opened their minds. Peter told them that the sign which they were seeing and hearing in the disciples even while Peter was still preaching, was the proof that Jesus was raised by God and received by Him to His heavenly throne where Jesus now ruled as Lord. The very fact that the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples was the proof that Jesus had ascended to heaven and had asked God to send the Spirit from heaven (verse 33) The crowd now understood the meaning of the sign which they were seeing and hearing even while Peter was still talking. They now understood an even more grievous fact and guilt that Peter had laid upon them. Peter accused them of having a part in killing the very King and Lord whom they were hoping God would send to save Israel from her enemies. And an even more fearful realization dawned on them, they were guilty before the Lord whom they had killed and judgement was now upon them. Guilt and fear gripped their heart and soul. They were 'cut to their hearts' by Peter's evangelistic preaching of the event. So what did Peter do? Peter, having learned from the Lord earlier, provided the correct understanding of the miraculous event that the crowd was witnessing, but could not comprehend. Peter's accurate interpretation of the spiritual event and sign jump started the church! No doubt, it was the Holy Spirit who was working to convince the crowd, but Luke wrote down the explicit reason why the crowd believed. It was Peter's Jesus-taught understanding of the identity of Jesus, the Scriptures and the promises of God working in conjunction with the sign of the Holy Spirit. What can we learn from this? Many things, but I believe the most important is the need for us to be able to accurately interpret any miraculous signs of Holy Spirit in relation to Jesus, and what the Scriptures have indicated. Without this Jesus-taught ability and wisdom, we could mislead ourselves on the true purpose of miraculous works of the Holy Spirit and seriously misuse the grace that God has given. This leads to abuse, using the gifts of the Spirit for our own pleasures and schemes. Worst of all, the abuse turns us away from Jesus which these signs are pointing to. It makes us proud and susceptible to the judgement of God. Misinterpretation of these signs could lead the entire church astray. Could one of the reasons why we do not see signs and wonders often in our lives is because of our inability to comprehend the true meaning and purpose why they were given? Food for thoughts indeed.